Shadow People: Stories + Theories

[spephspeph]

I keep seeing references to them...Can anyone enlighten me here?

Is it something to do with a manifestation of paranoia?

 

[gm777]

Its the result that many amp users experience when sleep deprivation and lack of nutrition have triggered the beginning stages of methamphetamine psychosis. It is definitely paranoia manifested in HDTV quality.

Its not always at first though. Let's say you're maybe alone in your home after being awake for three days and nights and out of nowhere you catch someone walking behind you out of the corner of your eye. But you know there isn't a snowballs chance in hell of someone actually being there, but you can feel them there right around the corner spying on you. But you turn around and look anyway, but just to be safe you go ahead and lock yourself in your bedroom.

You start to brush your teeth, and you glance in the mirror at your bed and think you see 2 girls layin there. You quickly look after a 180 degree spin and its empty just a bit unmade. Then you slam the bathroom door and lock the deadbolt. Then you start hearing them (auditory hallucinations) speaking. Voices...conversations that make sense. Sometimes they're friendly, like your Mom... or maybe a couple friends from school that you haven't spoken to in years. And then other times they might be strangers with an agenda of some type or they might be there just to shoot the shit. But why are they in your home?

The longer that you stay awake the more realistic these people really get. Then you end up having full on conversations with people who aren't even fucking there. If you let your mind trick you into this nonsense, especially out in public, you might very well end up in the psych ward in a padded cell. In reality you shouldve just took your ass to bed days ago when that first mother fucker showed itself.

That's my interpretation anyhow. If you're loosing your grip on reality, its time to lay down and get some sleep. When I used to tweak hardcore, usually around day 5, shit started to get real weird and sometimes scary as hell escalating very quickly and usually out of nowhere...without warning. But everybody out there is different.

Hope this explains it a bit...

gm777

 

[Orlando_Doom]

The shadow people is the common name for all the hallucinations when binging on amphetamines (meth is notorious here) or actually being in the state of amphetamine psychosis.

There is always "someone" malicious moving always in the corner of your eye, and you can never catch them because when you look there it's gone. But also, shadows themselves actually start moving, shaking, and taking on shapes if you are awake long enough. It doesn't bother me the least anymore since I dropped acid for the first time because the acid somehow clicked my mind into a state of "self-awareness" that never wore off over the years and since then, no drug could overwhelm or instill fear in me, not even a 9-day-meth binge without sleep or food (only LOTS of ice tea and coca cola). Yes, the shadow people are there but I viewed it like I would view the distortions when tripping... I found it fascinating.

Well, gm777 explained it really nicely too, but the thing is: you can't describe it approprietly to someone who never saw them. Like you can never explain to someone how LSD feels. It`s just so far and away removed from everyday human experience, but just like acid, you will instantly recognize them when they come visiting you - this one I promise.

 

[spephspeph]

Can you make friends with the shadow people?

 

[verso]

I like your avatar, GM, and it's inspired me to change my own...

I had no idea that there was a name for this; I remember not sleeping for a few days and when I finally decided to give it a try, I thought that there was an old woman in front of my television. It was ridiculous and even after propping myself up to get a better look, I still couldn't make sense of the fact that it was merely a reflection and not really an old woman in front of the TV. I was so confused and scared... lol

 

[ColtDan]

that sounds fuckin weird, but very fascinating

 

[LogicSoDeveloped]

I never got hardcore into amph psychosis but there were days where I'd be awake for up to 48 hours. Around 36-40 hours, I'd start to notice shadows in my vision. Not quite shadow people yet, but I would always turn as there was something uncomfortable about feeling some sort of presence around you, even when you're alone. Luckily I didn't try to make it any farther cause at that point, I'd be so paranoid I thought I might die of exhaustion. I usually would pass out and wake up and eat quite a bit of food while laughing about the paranoia from the night before. Its not so funny when I was experiencing it though. I had never really felt crazy before I stayed up so long on amphs. I've never and never intend on doing meth but Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse were strong enough kept me awake for long enough so that I have an understanding of psychosis.

 

[Doctor X]

I've seen them when driving severely sleep-deprived. They always remind me of the evil spirits in the movie "Ghost."
Definitely creepy...

 

[verso]

I like your avatar, GM, and it's inspired me to change my own...

I had no idea that there was a name for this; I remember not sleeping for a few days and when I finally decided to give it a try, I thought that there was an old woman in front of my television. It was ridiculous and even after propping myself up to get a better look, I still couldn't make sense of the fact that it was merely a reflection and not really an old woman in front of the TV. I was so confused and scared... lol

OK, so now my girlfriend tells me that she, too, has seen the "apparition" of an older woman in my house late at night. (She doesn't do amphetamines.) Now I'm seriously bugging...

 

[purple_cloud]

OK, so now my girlfriend tells me that she, too, has seen the "apparition" of an older woman in my house late at night. (She doesn't do amphetamines.) Now I'm seriously bugging...

I don't think drug culture has anything to do with that --- New England = haunted.

 

[Bearlove]

They are not friendly 'people' and depending on how deep you are into your 'binge' then they can be quite malicious. I used to see them quite often as I was a heavy speed user - at first, as mentioned above they are just fleeting images and always out of the corner of your eye. As time progresses you can start to feel their presence around you and its just so creepy, if you don't take notice and sleep then it can get just scary. They can become solid forms and are normally out to hurt you - your mind then simply loses grip on what is normal and who is real / not real. If your indoors then you can hear people in the other rooms and they are normally plotting talking about you - running past your door etc. If your outside you will see people doing odd things, ducking into doorways when you look at them, hiding behind cars and stuff like that.

 

[lilczey]

doesnt disosictives do this also?

spell check not workin

 

[D n A]

doesnt disosictives do this also?

spell check not workin

I've never seen shadow people on dissociatives.
Only on methylenedioxymethamphetamine. I was at first going to say that it isn't only amphs that cause this.. but then I realised..

Anyways, I once encountered the shadow people while I was coming down off some good molly. I was walking home in the dark and there were all these people in the bushes, watching me. People of all shapes and sizes. Some of them just stood there, others shifted a little, and some would dart around the sides of the road. Needless to say I was a little freaked out. I got home, got changed, and jumped in my bed and turned out the lights. Once my eyes adjusted, I could CLEARLY see 5 people in my room. One extremely tall and gangly shadow man was lurking in the corner of my closet. Another was crouched on my desk, watching, while his friend sat in my chair, taking turns looking at the desk person and then me. One sat behind the end of my bed, popping his head up now and then to look at me.
The freakiest shadow person who terrified me the most was right by the side of my bed. He would pop right near my face, grin at me, and then pop down and dart around the room and hover near the other shadow people before hiding beside my bed again. It was horrifying. I shut my eyes as hard as I could and tried to ignore the fact that there were 5 fucking demons in my room. Somehow I managed to fall asleep..

 

[sapphire life]

yo FUCK shadow people hahahaa. after a hard ecstasy binge, i used to get these motherfuckers. have conversations with people that don't exist. all that good shit ahh

 

[CuddleFairy]

Just like most drugs, it may just be inner projections of yourself. just a lot more terrifying cause that shit is nuts. and they said e puts holes in your brains injecting meth into monkeys. tsk tsk

 

[HYDRO_CHRONIC]

this would fucking make me have a heart attack...
jesus christ

i would think demons or ghosts

 

[silvercrimson]

those are the guys who non chalauntly drop by to visit when youve been on or going into the 4th or 5th day. they are the ones who move shit around when you get up to do something. for example, you go to use the bathroom and your full glass of water is in the middle of the table. you come back the waters still in the middle of the table but its moved just a tad to the LEFT!! there sneaky little fuckers. on a personal note id be kind of upset and id feel left out of the loop if they WERENT there. you know the dopes good when they come around, because they want to steal it, they know they cant so they just fuck with you instead. ive grown to love to hate them. 8)8)8)8)8)8)

 

[Dizzler]

fuck.... you guys really scared me i havent been asleep the whole night and im feeling well disturbed about this i really dont want it to happen to me.
I've hit Mdma 2 days ago, I've been doing it for a long time now and felt absolutely fine the next day, but this time it was different. I've hit 20 pounds worth of it and it was the version that comes in pure mdma crystals. I was out with everyone watching the fireworks everything felt better and more intense then the last time i've done it (probably cause i'v had a long brake since then). When i got home i layed on my bed with my laptop and everything was fine but when i've turned off the laptop and the light, and tried getting some sleep weird shit started happening. (At this time i wasnt thinking straight my mind went into like a day dream mode but i can still remember everything fine).
A man appeared on the floor, I kept on thinking it was my brother i couldn't really see properly because the only light i had was coming from a lamp post outside my house. Then out of no where hundreads of little rats came out and started jumping and playing with my things. At the time i thought this was all really because i was persuaded that mdma under no circumstances will make you hallucinate. I looked at the man again and found out that there is another man laying next to him with a deformed face when i stared at them they looked so really their faces were detailed and clear for me to see , I realised its not my brother laying down but two strange people. I panicked, i thought this was all real, I turned on my lamp and got up , i was gonna run out my room but as i got up everything disapeared. THen I realised its just a hallucination and was calm watching my room as weird shitt happend. For example later on there was a half human half dog pointing a slingshot at my getting ready to shoot me. What i noticed is that when you get close to anything that's a dellusion it disapears. Them people were talking to each other but i couldnt understand what they were saying. At least i slept for few hours that night. The next night which is the night just gone i havent slept at all. I sat on my bed with the light on. I had my laptop so i wont get bored but every few seconds i was laying my eyes on the far end of my bedroom ,where the people kept on appearing, just to check if they're not there again. I feel really paranoid and dont think I will get any sleep this night aswell. I just dont want the thing that you lot described to happen to me

by the way this is so hard to describe how it felt and what the people were really like because i never experienced something like this before. This was the first time It happened.

 

[gm777]

I like your avatar, GM, and it's inspired me to change my own...

I had no idea that there was a name for this; I remember not sleeping for a few days and when I finally decided to give it a try, I thought that there was an old woman in front of my television. It was ridiculous and even after propping myself up to get a better look, I still couldn't make sense of the fact that it was merely a reflection and not really an old woman in front of the TV. I was so confused and scared... lol

Thanks verso, I actually discovered it while browsing an old art thread in the last version of BL. I assume yours is buy the same artist?

And to clarify something on fear. Its not so much the shadow people that can get scary in prolonged periods of sleep deprivation, its the unbelievably intense paranoia that manifests itself while going along hand in hand with these types of hallucinations. This often times produces high levels of anxiety which causes panic and fear. It can get really intense, really goddamn fast. I don't think I'm above loosing my mind, and it could've happened, but I never let it escalate any further than a few hours past the fun zone. I would always go straight to bed and end it then and there.

 

[Methadone84]

Its the result that many amp users experience when sleep deprivation and lack of nutrition have triggered the beginning stages of methamphetamine psychosis. It is definitely paranoia manifested in HDTV quality.

Its not always at first though. Let's say you're maybe alone in your home after being awake for three days and nights and out of nowhere you catch someone walking behind you out of the corner of your eye. But you know there isn't a snowballs chance in hell of someone actually being there, but you can feel them there right around the corner spying on you. But you turn around and look anyway, but just to be safe you go ahead and lock yourself in your bedroom.

You start to brush your teeth, and you glance in the mirror at your bed and think you see 2 girls layin there. You quickly look after a 180 degree spin and its empty just a bit unmade. Then you slam the bathroom door and lock the deadbolt. Then you start hearing them (auditory hallucinations) speaking. Voices...conversations that make sense. Sometimes they're friendly, like your Mom... or maybe a couple friends from school that you haven't spoken to in years. And then other times they might be strangers with an agenda of some type or they might be there just to shoot the shit. But why are they in your home?

The longer that you stay awake the more realistic these people really get. Then you end up having full on conversations with people who aren't even fucking there. If you let your mind trick you into this nonsense, especially out in public, you might very well end up in the psych ward in a padded cell. In reality you shouldve just took your ass to bed days ago when that first mother fucker showed itself.

That's my interpretation anyhow. If you're loosing your grip on reality, its time to lay down and get some sleep. When I used to tweak hardcore, usually around day 5, shit started to get real weird and sometimes scary as hell escalating very quickly and usually out of nowhere...without warning. But everybody out there is different.

Hope this explains it a bit...

gm777

this happens to me without drugs!